The Jedi Civil War
Introduction The Jedi Civil War, also known as the Second Sith War, the Old Republic Insurrection, and by the Mandalorians as the War of the Star Forge, was a devastating conflict that began when the Jedi Knight Revan, who had led the forces of the Galactic Republic to victory in the Mandalorian Wars, founded his own Sith Empire and declared himself the Dark Lord of the Sith. The war began when he, along with his friend and apprentice Darth Malak, led an invasion of the Galactic Republic in the year 3958 BBY. With the aid of veterans from the Mandalorian Wars and a host of Dark Jedi converts that had served with them, the former Jedi hoped to take over the Republic in anticipation of a greater threat posed by a Sith Empire that lurked within the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Revan During the war, Darth Revan brought the Republic to its knees and nearly succeeded in conquering it, however, a trap set by the Jedi and unwittingly abetted by Malak left him comatose, with his mind nearly destroyed. Barely alive, he was taken from the wreckage by the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan, whose skills in battle meditation and the Force had allowed the mission to happen. Taken to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, Revan was healed by the Jedi Council and reprogrammed to believe that he was an agent loyal to the Republic. Revan was assigned under the command of Shan, who was then placed aboard the Endar Spire. In 3956 BBY, with the intention of drawing out Revan's fragmented memories of the Star Forge, the vast space station that was the source of the seemingly endless resources of the Sith, he was taken to the ecumenopolis of Taris where a Sith fleet under the direct command of Malak was waiting in ambush. Revan's Redemption Eventually escaping from Taris, Revan, along with Shan, the Republic commander Carth Onasi, and several others, fled to the Dantooine Academy, where the Jedi Masters there retrained him. After several weeks, the Dantooine Council sent him and the crew of the Ebon Hawk back out into the wider galaxy to track down the Star Forge's location, at the heart of the ancient Infinite Empire of the Rakata. Later, after a number of ancient Star Maps had been uncovered, Malak led an attack against the Enclave, devastating it and further crippling the Jedi Order. After finding the last Star Map and, from it, deducing the location of the Rakatan homeworld, Revan, the Jedi, and the Republic launched the war's final battle. Revan vanquished Malak aboard the Star Forge, and the Republic successfully routed the Sith forces. With Malak dead, the Star Forge destroyed, and the Sith fleet scattered and defeated, the long and costly war came to an end. Aftermath Though the forces under the defeated Malak were routed in the wake of the Star Forge's destruction, the Sith were by no means completely dead; many of the remnants fought amongst themselves for what few scraps of power remained. Also, other empires began to take from the weakened and leaderless Sith, seeing they were too preoccupied with fighting themselves to stand united against real foes. With these events the Sith Empire began to be reconquered by the Republic and anybody else wanting territory. The Sith, helpless to reverse these events began fall into a rapid decline. As well, the Jedi Order was but a shadow of its former self; some estimated that barely a hundred had survived the war and still remained true to the Jedi Code. The war had devastated planets throughout the galaxy, from the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim through to the fringes of the Core Worlds, leaving countless billions dead and many more homeless. These refugees wandered the galaxy, many ending up on Nar Shaddaa, becoming prey for criminals, pirates and slavers; veterans of both sides, deprived of an army or cause to fight with or for, found work as freelance pilots, mercenaries, raiders, or petty thugs